Tag Archives: OOAK Toronto 2013

When I decided to bring a mermaid to life on canvas, she was my inspiration. Lately I have been drawn back to her beauty in terms of colour and magnificent form. I am looking forward to showing these pieces at the Toronto One of a Kind Show coming up from March 27-31st, 2013!

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People often ask me about the supplies I use. Currently, my top 3 favourite supplies to create mermaid canvases with are: a very limited supply of beautiful Indian paper I found in a discount bin of an art supplies store years ago which I use for her tail; Golden Fluid Acrylic paint in Iridescent Gold for the highlights in her hair, & FW Pearlescent Liquid Acrylic paint in amazing Waterfall Green.

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Many years ago, Mr CFO and I decided we would get tattoos to mark a significant birthday in our lives. About 5 minutes after it was decided, he deposited a piece of paper in front of me with his tattoo image. “Something like that,” he said. Done. It was meaningful, symbolic and totally him. Of course it was. This sent me into an instant tizzy. My year long quest commenced, trying to figure out what my tattoo was going to be of. Who was I, what did I stand for, what did I want to imbed in ink into my skin forever?! It ranked up there with choosing my china pattern, when we were newly engaged babies eating off mismatched dishes at university and suddenly having to pick expensive dishes that symbolized our future lives together. Looking back on my journey, it did turn out to be pretty profound, but I’ll save that story for another day.

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The image that I ultimately chose was a mermaid. I have always loved the ocean and the creatures that inhabit the water. Jaws remains one of my favourite movies; it simultaneously terrified & intrigued me. I wanted to be Jacques Cousteau’s right-hand man. Alas, I chose to keep my adventures on land in Ontario, and sadly with no ocean, my inner marine biologist was put on permanent hold. Instead, I learned to scuba dive and decided to marvel at aquatic life as a temporary visitor.

The mermaid is said to, “represent a woman who is at ease in the great waters of life”. I see her as strong & independent, feminine & playful, all qualities I admire and want to emulate. She is loving, adventurous, kind & daring. She is also said to symbolize our connection with our deepest instinctive feelings, feelings that lie below the surface of our outward personality. So with that in mind, I set out to find my mermaid. In the end, I created her with pencil and paper on a road-trip from Florida homeward bound. I handed my sketch over to a local tattoo artist and he brought her to life. She has been guarding my back for the last 6 years, helping me to live authentically and embrace my creativity.

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How do you connect with mermaids? I’d love your feedback! Don’t forget to leave a link back to your own blog too via the commentluv feature here on the site. And don’t forget to come see me in by booth at the OOAK!